6. Nicolas Cage - Big Daddy (Kick-Ass)
Having been a big fan of the
Kick-Ass graphic novel, I was relatively disturbed to discover that Nicolas Cage - an actor I still admire when he can be bothered to act - had been cast in the role of Big Daddy, a former cop turned masked vigilante who trains his adolescent daughter to hurt and maim and murder for the sake of righteousness. On paper, Big Daddy resembles Cage in zero ways. And given the actor's tendency to phone in at least 75% of his performances, this looked like a disaster waiting to happen. Alas, Cage totally pulled it off. He did it, mostly, by adapting the character to suit his own strengths as an actor, but his performance is arguably the best and most amusing to watch in the entire movie. This is achieved mostly by way of channeling a sort of Adam West-like speech pattern and a host of goofy mannerisms, but Cage makes the role his own and arguably more memorable than it would have been had he just read his lines and settled for some of his usual scene-chewing stuff. The version in the comic book looks a bit boring by comparison, actually. Awesome.